Twisted
by Zyph
Summary: After a scuffle with a nasty ghost leaves a mark on Danny's personality, a new side of him is revealed...but will it spell his undoing when he mixes with the wrong side of the law?
1. Introducing Sir Monty Price

_Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom in any way or form. (What, expecting something witty?) _

_I own my socks but not Danny. (There, fear the wit!) I do, however, own Montgomery Price._

_Anyhow. Finally, after a hibernation period of about a year...onwards! _

* * *

Sir Montgomery Lazerous Price was, in short terms, a very powerful man. But that can be an understatement in itself—he was supreme, at the top of his game, and was a mere twenty-five.

In short, Mr. Price was indeed a businessman, in control of a wide chain of scientific labs that…well, if you knew, you would know too much. Anyway, currently the businessman was feeling absolutely torn up inside. He had had to fire a valuable employee that afternoon, and was, at the moment, indecisive about his decision. Now, as the sun began to set and the day turned to night, he decided to go on a well-earned walk across town.

The walk was relaxing enough…a cup of coffee, browsing at the bookstore, walking down the street, that sort of thing. All was right with in Montgomery's world…that is, until the wall of a building came crashing down as a spectral, but very solid, being fell through it. It was a revolting creature, resembling a black octopus with an impossible number of tentacles. It was on the floor, squirming, slapping its many appendages around with a sickening _squelch_ sound. Mr. Price, entranced by the spectacle, watched a good distance away.

He saw as, quite suddenly, a figure materialized above the creature. It was the newcomer that interested Mr. Price the most—mainly, because it looked just like a teenage boy, hovering above the thing and looking ready to attack.

"I don't think you'll make a friendly sea creature, so into the Thermos you go!" the boy cried, taking out a cylindrical object, pointing it at the creature, and letting out a ray of blue-white light that sucked the target in.

Mr. Price knew who this was, now. It was that 'Inviso-Bill' lad…he had read an article about him in the paper. Just as the creature faced its doom inside the Thermos, a thick, spiked tentacle whipped out from the light and stabbed at Inviso-Bill's arm before disappearing. The boy cried out, clutching his arm and watching as a few drops of blood seeped out from between his fingers and onto the pavement below. After a moment he disappeared, one moment he was there and the next…gone.

Mr. Price knew an opportunity when he saw one. He ran across the street, through the crowd that was steadily leaving the scene, and knelt down next to the puddle of the ghost-boy's blood. It was an odd sight—the blood was thick, and a shade of neon green. He whipped a glove out of his coat pocket and dipped his fingers into the concoction. It stuck to the glove, and Mr. Price held it up to the street light to get a better look at it. Oh yes, this was an opportunity indeed….

Earlier that day...

"Sam, Tucker!" Danny called, making his way through the departing crowd to get to his friends. It was the end of the day at Casper High, and as always, there was a rampaging stampede of teens fighting to make their way home and get on with their lives. Sam and Tucker were, currently, waiting for Danny under a tree and giving each other cold looks.

Once Danny had joined their little group, Tucker and Sam continued with the debate they had been having.

"No, Tucker, adding more fancy things to your PDA will _not_ make you a girl magnet." Sam pressed, only to receive and hard glare from Tucker.

"How would you know? Maybe your mind is just affected by all of the plants you eat!" he retorted.

Sam bristled, replying, "For the last time, they're _not_ plants!" She spun around to greet Danny, purposely giving Tucker the cold shoulder.

"Hey, Danny," Sam said, smiling. Tucker gave a disgruntled wave. Danny, meanwhile, was fiercely amused by the whole incident, and eyed the two for a moment.

"Okay, anyway. You two really, _really_ have issues." he informed them, turning and beginning to walk home. Tucker and Sam followed, walking as far away from each other as possible. Sam and Danny had a nice little conversation, while Tucker simply walked in a dead silence. Danny frowned, looking at his friend.

"Hey, Tucker, are you alright? Still thinking about girl magnets?" he asked, grinning.

Tucker looked up. "Ha. Funny. You know that lecture we had today? Well, I was thinking about that Price guy…what's-his-name. He's so powerful, but everything his labs do is so…mysterious."

Danny looked blank. "Who?" he asked.

"It doesn't surprise me you didn't listen in school today. Monty L. Price, some scientist who controls all of these top-secret laboratories and is supposed to donate old equipment to the schools. All of the teachers were buzzing about it today, and how no one really knows what goes on in his labs." Sam reported.

"Ah. Well, donating equipment, that's nice of him. See you guys tomorrow." Danny replied, as the three of them came to the part of their walk where they separated to get home. They said their goodbyes, and departed.

Nothing eventful happened in the next hour or so. Danny came home and went upstairs to study for a test the next day. Jazz suddenly burst into his room, causing Danny to jolt up from his desk. He glared at Jazz, and received a cheerful grin in return.

"Come _on_, Danny, come say bye." Jazz said. Danny, for the second time that day, looked blank.

"Bye?" he asked. His sister sighed, and said, "Yes, Danny, 'bye'. It's usually a form of saying 'farewell' to someone as they depart from a dwelling. In this case, our parents are going to that ghost-hunters conference, remember?" she asked, dragging out her last few words as if Danny was a complete dunce. Danny paused for a moment, thought, and then remembered.

His parents were supposed to travel somewhere in some-state to meet with other ghost-hunters. They would be gone for about a week…leaving him with Jazz…wonderful.

After a short farewell and reassurances that there would be no monkey business while they were gone, the Fenton parents left for their trip. After the car pulled away, Danny grabbed his bag and made to leave. Jazz blocked his way, staring. "Where do you think you're going?" she pressed.

Danny grinned. "To Sam's house. Tucker and I are meeting there to…study. You know, so I can someday be as smart and successful as my darling big sister?" he replied, eyes wide and innocent.

Jazz frowned, and looked at the clock. "You'd better be back by ten. If you're not home by then…" She trailed off, a hint of menace in her voice.

"Don't worry!" Danny called as he made his way out the door. "Everything will be just fine!"

Jazz shook her head as she watched him leave, full of doubt. Call it female intuition, but she had a hunch things would be anything _but_ fine.

_

* * *

Well! There you go, the first chapter. If you're wondering aboutthe plot, it will show up in the next chapter or so. But in the meantime, reviewing makes Zyphy happy._

_And on just a side note, if you're an older DP reader/writer and my style sounds a bit familiar, I used to go by 'Architect04'. Aww, I remember way back when the DP section had only 19 fanfics...hehe._


	2. Attack of the OctoThingy

_Whoa, I seriously need to go to bed right now. It's like, two in the morning! But I shall update first. Yay! Down with sleep!_

_Thank you for the awesome reviews! Merf, I'll talk later. For now, on with the fic!_

* * *

Danny smiled inwardly as he made his way over to the narrow alley next to his house. Jazz was so clueless sometimes. He couldn't _believe _she hadn't figured out that he was half-ghost yet! Oh yes, Danny was just _too _clever…!

He paused his self-praise and concentrated for a moment, a small voice saying in the back of his mind, _I'm going ghost!_

Danny could feel the rings of white-blue light form and pass over him, his trademark ghost suit forming over his clothes as the light reached the top of his head and disappeared. Danny closed his eyes for a moment, basking in the surreal feeling of absolute freedom in his ghost form. He then rose skywards, catching speed and soaring in the direction towards Sam's house with his arms pinned to his sides and hair avidly waving about in the wind.

In what seemed like record time, Danny hovered down to the alley next to the rather large home. A few moments later he was at her front door, a normal teen, waiting to be allowed in.

"Hi, Danny! Come on, Tucker and I are in the game room." Sam said as she opened the door. She led him through the spacious entrance, past quite a few other richly furnished rooms, and into the game room, where Tucker was enjoying a round of pinball.

"Ready for some ghost-hunting, Tucker?" Danny brightly exclaimed, directly in Tucker's ear. This, in turn, caused Tucker to jolt back from his pinball game and stagger away in an exaggerated form of surprise.

"Um…yeah!" Tucker replied, his eyes on the pinball game as the screen flashed 'game over'.

Usually the trio met at Danny's house for ghost-hunting, as the ghosts usually gathered around that area, eager to get rid of the halfa and get as close as they could. But recently the ghosts had been drifting farther and farther off, causing their nightly ghost-hunt meets to occur near any one of their homes.

The three assembled their gear, Tucker made sure his PDA was charged, and they set off.

They were scouting the park when the sea creature-type beast appeared, tentacles swaying around its bulbous head.

It was so routine for them, Danny fighting the creature back, Sam and Tucker getting the ghost gadgets ready, all of them moving in unison to put the ghost creature back where it belonged. Sam was going to get the honor of sucking the ghost into the Thermos, when it suddenly shot a wide black ectoplasmic beam at Tucker. He was sent flying back, landing on a large bush. Sam dropped the Thermos and rushed over to him, as Danny blasted the creature with an ectoplasmic beam of his own.

"Is he okay?" Danny called to Sam.

"He'll be fine! Take the Thermos and get rid of that thing!" she called back. Danny sped down to scoop up the Thermos and aimed it at the ghost…only to find it had disappeared.

"Where are you?" Danny cried, flying up above the treetops to get a better view. He saw the creature materialize a bit ahead of him. Without another word he chased after it, causing quite a few pedestrians to squeal in shock.

_Luckily it's starting to get dark, there weren't many people around…_Danny thought, as he continued the chase, growing frustrated as the ghost turned intangible each time Danny attacked.

They approached the business district of Amity Park, full of the larger companies, fancier restaurants…and the science labs, controlled by Monty Price. Danny didn't really care about the location, however, as the octo-ghost was suddenly dazzled by the many lights coming from windows of buildings. Danny took the chance to fire blast after blast at the creature, almost causing it to topple over on the crosswalk, where—oh, great!A crowd of onlookers had formed!

_Darn human curiosity! Don't point and stare!_ Danny thought, dodging the ghost's tentacles. One of them, a rather sharp, wicked-looking one, sliced through the back of a car, sending the other half flying. Danny went racing after it as the car half soared right at a clump of screaming people, halting right in front of the group and creating a hard ectoplasmic shield. The car half slid harmlessly off, coming to a rest in the street. Danny grinned at his success, only to look and see the ghost creature lurching towards a large building.

Thinking quickly, Danny sped towards it and turned them both intangible, trooping directly through the building….only to have the intangibility fail just as they were about to exit the opposite building wall. Despite the fact the creature was, in fact, ghostly, it felt quite solid as it crashed against the wall and sent both boy and octo-thing into the pavement below.

"Inviso-Bill just destroyed that wall!" someone cried.

"Look, he and that octo-thingy left a giant hole! They're destroying everything!"

"He's going to turn on us! Run! Run!" In response to that comment and a few other outbursts, the crowd began to thin as people scurried away. Danny sighed. It wasn't the perfect way to get people to clear the area, but it was something. He looked down at the ghost creature. It had rolled over, lifted itself off of the pavement on a bundle of tentacles,and rose up to a towering height. It waved its most menacing tentacles at Danny, shooting rays of inky-black ectoplasm at him. Danny had managed to dodge the blasts so far, but he had to get that thing into the Thermos before it destroyed anything else….

"I don't think you'll make a friendly sea creature, so into the Thermos you go!" Danny cried, catching the creature by surprise and drawing it into the said Thermos. It was almost completely in, when….

"_Gah!_" Danny cried in sudden shock, his right arm flying to his left forearm where a long, deadly-looking spike was withdrawing itself. The octopus-ghost had left the scene, but it had also left a mark.

Danny stood on a pile of debris from the hole the creature had made, clutching his wound and feeling faint. He watched as odd-looking blood seeped from between his gloved hands and onto the pavement below, before he became invisible and flew off.

Enter, Monty Price.

_Flying…flying…falling…_

By an odd coincidence, Sam and Tucker were just making their way back to Sam's house as the moment Danny suddenly dropped from the sky and onto the sidewalk in front of the doorway, turning back into his human form a moment after. The wound on his arm was now painfully obvious.

_Pain…blinding pain…_

Tucker and Sam, without a word an in an almost choreographed sequence, lifted Danny up and carried him through the now-dark hallways of the house to a sitting room. It was night, and the other occupants of the house were asleep. While Sam ran off to go get bandages, Tucker tried to keep Danny awake.

_Fog…fog…_

"_Danny! Come on, Danny, stay with us!"_

"_Tucker? Is he still awake?"_

"_Yeah…but barely…go on; bandage him up so he won't bleed to deat—whoa."_

"_What? What's wrong?"_

"_He had a huge hole in his arm, you saw it…but now…it's gone…"_

"…_there's a scar…"_

"_But Sam, it's gone! What happened, Danny? Danny? Danny…_

Behind Danny's now closed eyelids, as he fell into a deep sleep, his vivid blue eyes flashed their now-familiar neon green…and darkened to red….

_

* * *

Rawr! Slight cliffie. I know everyone loves cliffies! This chapter moved a bit slow, yes, but there should be a bit more action in the next one._

_**HPhantom and Axion-Pup: **Yay, thank you!_

_**Marenda Coxy: **You'll see, bwahaha..._

_**Rakal: **Thank you for the constructive criticism, I'll be sure to fix that and keep that in mind. Glad you like:D _

_You all know you just want to hug the mysterious Sir Monty. Awwwr._

_So, see you all next chapter! Until then,_

_-Zyphy_


	3. Project: Ghost

_**News update: **Zyph has gone into a state of complete paranoia after having a bowl of cereal earlier today. She discovered...there was no spoon._

_In other news, Zyph always seems to update really late at night. She has two important statements to...state: _

_1) Zyph will not be around for the next week or so, as she is going camping! Yaaaay!_

_2) On with the fic!_

* * *

"Veronica! _Veronica!_" Monty cried, running through a set of rather impressive double-doors into his partner's office. He skidded to a halt in an almost comical fashion, stopping a few feet away from a large desk, his neat blond hair now frizzed and wild. Seated behind the desk and tapping away at a computer, was the one known was 'Veronica'. 

She was a person that radiated a professional demeanor, a perfectionist with an uncanny store of knowledge that had led her to the top of her scientific career. These traits had also led to Veronica becoming Montgomery Price's most trusted confidant. At the mention of her name in such an excited tone, she bolted up from her desk and stared at the man, her hair barely moving from an almost painfully tight black bun. Monty, grinning in a childish sort of way, placed the small tube of ghost blood triumphantly on her desk. Veronica stared down at it, faintly wondering what in the world was going on.

"And what could this be?" she asked, picking up the tube and holding up to the light, where the liquid glowed an eerie neon green.

"This, my dear friend, just happens to be blood from Amity Park's own 'Inviso-Bill.'" Monty replied, folding his arms over his chest. Veronica's eyes widened.

"You mean…? Do you know what we could _do _with this?" Veronica asked, open-mouthed and disbelieving. Monty nodded.

"That's why I brought it to you! We can study it; explore an entirely new _area _of the paranormal! Just imagine… what can we create? What can we achieve? The experiments…the tests…ooh, the fun!" He clapped his hands together and beamed.

Veronica brought the tube closer to her face. "This…is amazing. And look…we not only have the blood…" She brought the tube down and shook it, placing it on the desk and pointing at a spot. Monty leaned in, and together, they saw the same thing—a single strand of ghostly white hair, floating in the liquid. And at the very root of the hair, it gradually faded to black.

"We have his _hair._" Veronica breathed, stating the obvious. Possibilities unfolded in front of their eyes…however, Veronica's possibilities were very different from Monty's. She, too, knew an opportunity when she saw one.

"Why don't you round up your most trusted employees, and we can supervise an entirely new project. Call it, Project Ghost." Veronica suggested.

"My, that's _so _original!" Monty replied, grinning and leaving the lab. He had a slight spring to his step—anything that helped unveil the truth always set him in a good mood.

As he left, Veronica reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone, quickly pressing in a series of numbers. She twirled the tube in her fingers as she leaned back in her chair and pressed the phone to her ear.

"Yes?" came a rough voice from the other line.

"Hello, Simon…I believe I have something that may interest you…" Veronica replied, smiling deviously and staring at the tube…her little prize.

* * *

As the clock struck eleven and the night progressed, Danny groaned and stirred in his sleep. Sam, who was anxiously sitting by Danny's side on the couch, shook Tucker awake.

"Mmph?" Tucker mumbled, sitting up and yawning. Sam stared at Danny as he groaned again, shifting his position until he was sitting up on the couch. He opened his eyes, looking quite dazed. Tucker wordlessly ran off to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

Sam placed a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Danny? Are you alright?" she asked, biting her lower lip. Maybe they _should _have taken him to the hospital…but they would have asked questions…awkward questions…but if anything happened to him, she could never forgive herself…!

Danny looked at the hand on his shoulder for a moment, feeling very, very cold…what had happened? Had he been fighting? Why did his arm hurt?

He placed his own hand on his left forearm, on the small scar that had appeared not long ago. There was suddenly a warmth, a deep, wonderful warmth that spread from his arm, to his entire body…it was simple…pleasure, freedom. Mischief.

"I'm fine now…" Danny murmured, placing his own hand on top of Sam's. She blushed, withdrawing her hand from his shoulder and taking the glass of water Tucker had brought.

"Danny-boy! Nice to see you're feeling better! Do you…ah…remember anything?" Tucker asked, smiling nervously. Sam handed Danny the water, and he downed it in a few gulps.

"I don't know, should I?" Danny replied, watching Tucker over the brim of the glass. Tucker paused, blinking. What was that?

"Um…well, yeah…don't you remember the octopus thing?" Sam asked, starting to get worried. Danny shrugged, his gaze falling on the clock, which now showed that it was well past Jazz's curfew. He shook his head, as if trying to shake away a nagging headache.

He stood, placing the glass on the table in front of him. "I have to…get going…sorry for the trouble…um…bye." He walked off, grabbing his bag and frowning. What did he just do? Why did he feel so…off?

Back in the living room, Tucker and Sam gave each other a long look. There was no need for words, as they were both thinking of the same thing. What was _that _about?

As soon as Danny opened the entry door, he was greeted by a rabid Jazz. "_I told you to come home at ten._" she hissed, fully aware he had probably been out ghost-busting, or whatever he called it. But still, she had to keep the 'innocently clueless older sister' act, right?

Danny replied with a dazed look, before feeling that sudden rush of warmth from his arm. "Coming to pick me up, sis? You're a doll. Now take me home." He brushed past her to the waiting family car, carelessly tossing his bag in and slamming the door behind him. Jazz blinked, and saw Tucker and Sam rushing towards her. They shrugged in response to her questioning look. "Right then…see you guys later…" Jazz turned and hurried back to the car. Oh yes, that earlier bout of female intuition was _certainly _correct. Things were _not_ fine.

Danny scurried up to his room once they reached their house. Once he had gotten into bed, he simply stared at the ceiling, breathing heavily, one word repeating in his head over and over again: _What? _

The next morning, Jazz was just finishing preparing breakfast when Danny slid down the banister of the staircase, dressed in rather expensive-looking clothes of varying shades of black and red. Jazz stared.

"And just where did you get those clothes?" she asked, dropping her spoon into her cereal.

Danny, in response, shrugged. "Mom left her credit card behind, I felt like going out for some late-night shopping. That okay with you, _big sis?_" he asked, picking up the cereal bowl and casually shoveling its contents into his mouth. Jazz continued to stare.

"You're kidding. Can you even comprehend how terrible that is?" she said, voice ringed with disbelief.

Danny nodded heartily. "Oh, yeah, this cereal is terrible. Can't you make a decent breakfast? Honestly, woman! Well, I'm off to school, have a nice day." He sarcastically saluted Jazz before marching out of the house, backpack slung over one shoulder. Life is good, Danny thought to himself, as he carelessly went-ghost in his doorway and shot off in the direction of his high school. Who gives a crap if anyone saw? Hah!

Sam and Tucker were anxiously waiting for Danny by the tree the group always met at. "Do you think he's…you know…feeling better?" Tucker asked, frowning. Sam shrugged, watching the oncoming mass of students and looking for Danny.

Quite suddenly, a black-and-white figure dropped down in front of them. "Hello, my partners in crime! Are you ready for a fantastic day of learning fun?" Danny cried, his tone almost dripping with pure, ghostly sarcasm. Sam stared at Danny in horror.

"Are you _trying _to expose yourself? Go and go…normal, you twit!" Tucker hissed, glaring at Danny and anxiously scanning the crowd to see if anyone had noticed.

Unfortunately, anyone in black-and-white tights is bound to be noticed in record time.

"Ohmygosh! _It's Inviso-Bill!_" someone cried from the midst of the crowd. A panic abruptly ensued, thanks to the many dents on Inviso-Bill's reputation. Danny cackled and rose up into the air, before becoming invisible.

Sam was still in shock. "Yup, he's lost it." Tucker stated, staring at the spot Danny had disappeared. It really didn't help when Danny, in his normal form, popped up from behind the tree in his new clothes.

As Samwordlessly stared at Danny,she thought, Today would not be a good day. Absolutely, most definitely, _not _a good day.

* * *

_Bam! _

_Again, a bit slow. Next chapter should be quite fun...just like school! (note: sarcasm.)_

_**HPhantom: **Aww, when you get to know him, Mr. Octo-thingy really isn't that bad. Squishy and revolting, but sweet. If that makes sense. _

_**Axion-Pup: **Cheesy lines rock, dewd._

_**Melon: **Thankyou! (luvluv!) Oh, and thanks for reminding me:_

This fanfic is dedicated to the _real _Sir Montgomery Lazerous Price.

...who is my parakeet.

_Until next time!_

_-Zypharooni_


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